Challenging traditional views of "American"

This past class session has really encouraged me to think about what it means to be American and how traditional views of the word deny some people the ability to form an identity as an American because of their ethnicity. Both the novel "Project Mulberry," and Margaret Cho's stand up helped me understand the importance of challenging these views. Like the character Julia in "Project Mulberry," Margaret Cho expresses the difficulty in finding acceptance as an Asian American in a country where, for many people, the term American still holds traditional European ideals. While Julia is a fictional character she struggles to accept both her Asian and American identity and strives to be seen as more "American," until she begins to realize she can identify with both if she changes her views of what an American is. Margaret's stand up helps show that in reality many people have difficulty being accepted as both Asian and American rather than one or the other. She has received much criticism from both ends. She explains struggles in finding acceptance in a career that featured generally the traditional views of Americans, while some Asians denied her as a role model because she broke the mold of traditional Asian views. She shares times when "Americans" made assumptions about her dieting strategies, fish and rice, and had even been employed an Asian consultant to help her appeal more to the Asian audience. American's viewed her as too Asian and Asians viewed her as to American. Cho makes apparent the difficulties one can face when people so strongly hold on to traditional views of what an American is. It is important for people to begin to challenge these views and broaden their understanding of American to include those American's that share different ethnicities than their own.